


It Isn't Real

by Twice_before_Friday



Series: October? No, I think you mean Whumptober [16]
Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Episode: s01e05 The Trip, Gen, Hallucinations, Malcolm Bright is Higher Than a Kite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27042706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twice_before_Friday/pseuds/Twice_before_Friday
Summary: Prompt No 16. A TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAYForced to Beg |Hallucinations| Shoot the Hostage"I'm higher than a kite," Malcolm grins, drawing Gil's attention back just in time to see the smile slowly start to fade from his face. Gil watches helplessly as the childlike openness which had lit up Malcolm's features only a moment ago is swallowed up by an unnatural fear. He wishes he could somehow lead him back to that carefree place.
Relationships: Gil Arroyo & Malcolm Bright
Series: October? No, I think you mean Whumptober [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947595
Comments: 14
Kudos: 56
Collections: Whumptober 2020, comfort rich twink





	It Isn't Real

"Dani's right," Malcolm says seriously, "He didn't do this. But I have a question. Why is everyone moving in slow motion?"

"You okay, Bright?" Gil asks, reaching out to grasp the kid's shoulder. Alarm bells begin to clang in the back of his mind as he gets close enough to notice there's something off about Malcolm. Something more off than usual.

"When my father was arrested, you helped to fill that void." Malcolm reaches out and gently mirrors the movement, gripping Gil's shoulder and looking so sincere it hurts. "You showed me what a good man looks like. What a good man is."

Malcolm's hand shifts from Gil's shoulder to the side of his face as he continues to look at him with a vulnerability that Gil hasn't witnessed since Malcolm was just a little boy. With his face trapped by Malcolm's hand, he can‘t turn his face to Dani, but he does manage to shift his eyes in her direction as he suddenly understands what's wrong with Malcolm. "He's high as a kite."

"I'm higher than a kite," Malcolm grins, drawing Gil's attention back just in time to see the smile slowly start to fade from his face. Gil watches helplessly as the childlike openness which had lit up Malcolm's features only a moment ago is swallowed up by an unnatural fear. He wishes he could somehow lead him back to that carefree place.

Instead, the hairs on the back of Gil's neck prickle as Malcolm's face consorts from fear to downright panic, his eyes darting around the room like he's seeing someone — or something — that no one else can, and Gil can only imagine what terrors he must be experiencing. Malcolm's nightmares have always taken on an excruciatingly vivid cast, which leads Gil to believe that the trip he's about to experience is going to be far from pleasant.

"Bright. Kid, look at me," Gil says, giving Malcolm's shoulder a light squeeze, trying to draw him away from the horrors of his mind and back into the here and now. When Malcolm's eyes can't seem to settle on his face, drifting instead to a space behind him that Gil knows is empty but Malcolm seems to think is occupied by something downright terrifying, he glances back to Dani. 

"Go get a medic," Gil says, trying to rein in his frustration that Dani's blatant disregard for his orders has led to the situation they're currently in. They'll most certainly be dealing with that come morning. For now, he needs to find a way to ease Malcolm's fear. "Fill them in on what happened, see if there's something they can give him to help bring him dow—"

Malcolm's piercing scream cuts off his words and his thoughts, and in the fraction of a second it takes for him to turn back to Malcolm, the kid has dropped his hands from Gil's face and pulled Gil's sidearm from the holster at his hip.

Malcolm takes a few hasty steps back, raising the gun to eye level and swinging it back and forth throughout the room, aiming at no one and everyone at the same time.

"No! Stay away!" Malcolm shouts.

With little more than a glance and a few hand gestures, Gil has the room emptied of all of the officers on the scene, though Dani stubbornly refuses to leave. 

Apparently, disobeying orders is the theme of the day.

"Bright?" Gil says quietly, raising his hands up to shoulder height, hoping Malcolm's subconscious will recognize that Gil isn't a threat, even through the hallucinations he's clearly battling. "Bright, I need you to put that gun down."

Gil's heart beats so hard in his chest that he can feel it reverberating through his bones as he watches the kid's hand shake around the handle of the gun. At this point, Malcolm's finger isn't resting on the trigger, but Gil is worried that if his finger moves half an inch, they're going to have to deal with the fallout of the gun going off accidentally. 

"Not real," Malcolm whispers before jerking the gun to the right, just beside Dani and screaming, "You can't be here!"

Gil takes a step over, blocking Dani from the line of fire, just in case.

"Bright," Dani says, peering around Gil's shoulder even though Gil can hear the tremor in her voice that tells him how worried she is. "Whatever it is you're seeing, it isn't real."

"No, no, no." Malcolm backs away with slow unsteady steps and Gil wonders if he's hearing them at all. 

"Bright? Bright, I need you to listen to my voice." Gil speaks slowly, hoping a familiar voice will cut through the fear. "You're hallucinating. I can help, but I need you to put that gun down first." Gil turns his head to the side but keeps his eye on Malcolm as he says, "Powell, get the paramedics, now. Have them prep a sedative or something. Wait for my all-clear to bring them in."

"Gil," Dani says, clearly about to protest but Gil cuts her off before she has a chance.

"Powell, that's an order. Go. Now."

Dani shoots one last worried look at Malcolm and then quietly sneaks away, understanding the best thing she can do for Malcolm is get him some medical attention.

Gil turns his full attention to Malcolm who is still slowly backing away, only three or four feet from his back hitting the wall. Gil doesn't even want to consider how Malcolm will react to being trapped.

"Malcolm," Gil says louder this time. Loud enough to cut through the screaming in his head, apparently, because Malcolm actually stops and looks at Gil for a moment, even going so far as to start lowering the gun.

Gil takes a few steps forward but freezes as Malcolm's gaze strays to his left. A moment ago, Gil would have said that the fear on Malcolm's face was the worst thing he could imagine, but the absolute desperation that distorts the kid's features as he peers at something that only he can see damn near breaks Gil's heart.

"I'm trying," Malcolm's voice cracks as tears begin to spill down his cheeks. "I'm sorry."

Gil can't just stand there and watch as the kid falls apart. He moves slow and steady, praying that Malcolm doesn't see him as one of the demons that haunts his dreams, keeping his hands open and raised. As Gil gets closer, the tremor that's taxing Malcolm's body becomes so much more apparent, and Gil firms his resolve to end this now.

He walks up until there's only a couple of inches between his chest and the barrel of the gun, and then he brings his hands slowly to the cool metal, pushing it down, walking towards Malcolm the entire time, until he can wrap one arm around his trembling shoulders and tug him into a comforting embrace.

As Malcolm releases a shuddering breath, his grip on the gun relaxes and Gil eases it from his gasp, keeping a firm hold of it while he wraps that arm around Malcolm, as well.

"It's okay, kid. You're alright," Gil assures Malcolm as he falls apart in his arms. "You're gonna be fine, I promise."

At his signal, Dani leads the medics in, but unfortunately, there isn't much they can do. Between the combination of illegal drugs that Malcolm inhaled and the cocktail of legal medications Malcolm takes every morning, there's nothing they can give him that won't interact badly with _something_. 

Fortunately, Malcolm seems to settle down as the paramedics do what they can, his high performing a full one-eighty, sending him from frightened to hyper, and within ten minutes, Malcolm is bouncing off the walls. 

After a quick but thorough workup that Malcolm can barely sit through, the final consensus is, "He's gonna need to ride it out. With a chaperone."

Gil decides Dani will receive that honour.

Hopefully, seeing the consequences of her actions first hand will remind her why they have rules in the first place. And with any luck, Malcolm and Dani can use the time to get to know one another a little better. If Malcolm is going to be a permanent fixture on the team (and it's looking more and more like that with every case), they're going to need to learn to trust one another.

He expects this will be a sink-or-swim experience for them, but he has faith in them both, not only to keep themselves above water, but to buoy one another as well.

Gil's learned to trust his instincts over the years, and his instincts are telling him that Malcolm and Dani could be good friends, if they could just drop their walls.

"Powell," Gil calls to her where she's standing nearby, "take him home…"


End file.
